[imText1]Since the start of the mass defections of North Korean citizens in the mid-1990s, the protection and handling of overseas defectors scattered across several countries, especially China, has became a substantial international human rights issue.
In the midst of this situation, South Korean embassies, who should consider themselves the “vanguard” of defector protection activities abroad, have not broken free from their old ways, and have angered NGO activists in the field as a result, not to mention seriously failing the defectors themselves. Despite the fact that overseas North Korean defectors are South Korean citizens under the South Korean constitution, there has not been much change in the apathy and indolence demonstrated by embassies.
The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights’ Executive Director Kim Sang Hun, who met with Daily NK at the office of the Database, demanded that the Blue House and the administration review and improve the situation. Executive Director Kim even proposes an administrative review by the National Assembly and a special audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection.
[The following is the interview with the Director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights]
– At a discussion meeting last week, you pointed out that our overseas embassy personnel has been exhibiting serious incompetence, defeatism and dereliction of duty. Has this continued even since the Lee administration came into office?
In the past, it came to light that the South Korean embassy in Laos did not receive defectors from North Korea, but it has started receiving them, albeit at a limited rate. Until last year, some of the staff at our embassy in Thailand treated defectors really badly. Our embassy in Vietnam refuses to accept defectors to this day.
If this were an issue at the administration level, then there may have been changes after the Lee administration took office, but not much has fundamentally changed. This is not an issue which is related to a government policy, but one that is related to the work culture of South Korean diplomatic circles and overseas embassies.
– During the Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun administrations, the issue of overseas defectors was not a policy priority. In such a context, is it not asking too much to request an inspection of the administration by the National Assembly?
For the past ten years, the government, saying that it would focus on inter-Korea reconciliation, put the defector issue in the hands of the front-line bureaucrats. Therefore, the South Korean overseas embassy personnel tried not to bother the administration by dealing with defector issues in-house. The Blue House indicated “silent diplomacy,” so embassies tended to deal with defector issues silently.
The first duty of embassies is protection of their compatriots. According to our constitution, North Koreans who defect from North Korean soil are also our people. By an inspection of the administration by the National Assembly, we need to clarify diplomatic indolence on the defector issue.
– Since President Lee came into office, have there been policy changes in the popular transit nations of Mongolia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and China?
These countries do not have such a large interest in defectors, or they sit on the fence. As a result, if our embassy personnel put in a little effort, then the situation of our overseas defector brothers can change significantly. But our personnel will not do this. With the exception of China, no country has been hostile towards our defectors. The issue is that given the lack of interest on the part of the embassy staff, the governments also see defectors as a burden.
I am not asking diplomats to hold the hands of defector brothers and cross the border. But at the very least, don’t they have a duty to make an attempt to genuinely help those defectors who manage to reach the embassies after seeing the South Korean flag? First and foremost, the habits of the staff, of immediately frowning upon seeing a defector, should change.
This situation should not be neglected any longer. Embassy staff, however, does not even blink when a new chief comes into the Blue House. First, the National Assembly, which is the representative of the citizens, should appreciate and assess the situation. The Blue House, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Unification must also try to restore discipline.
– In actuality, however, is it not true that the rights of an embassy does not include the ability to negotiate with the government of a state?
The first duty of the embassy is planning the safety of our citizens. Accordingly, there has to be legitimate negotiation with the relevant governments regarding defectors, who are international refugees but also South Korean citizens. Of course, negotiation is not as easy as it sounds. However, there is a vast difference between those occasions when an embassy staff member shows his/her face when the life of a defector is in danger or if s/he is about to be forcibly repatriated, and occasions when that does not happen.
They have to help defectors immediately when they need help, especially when they face a security emergency, even without any indications from the native country. However, they do not have this sense of responsibility on the defector issue.
– You have recently insisted that the National Assembly and the Board of Audit and Inspection should undertake inspections and investigations of the embassies’ protection of their own citizens, but did the Grand National Party (GNP) and the Liberal Forward Party (LFP) take the idea it seriously?
NGO activists have been acting until now according to their own religious, ideological or moral convictions. We want the political world to pay closer attention to these issues but, even if this doesn’t happen, we will push through all the way. Has there ever been an instance where a civil service entity carried out reform of its own accord? If the citizens take an interest, then the political world will also take an interest.
If the National Assembly decides not to carry out administrative inspections, then I will request a special audit of the Board of Audit and Inspection. In South Korea, the citizens also have the right to request an audit. The fastest way is for the Blue House and the administration to look at the situation in advance.
– It also seems urgently necessary to try and encourage public opinion.
When I think about my defector brothers, I am ashamed to be a South Korean citizen. Just as the master has to watch over a worker who can’t work very well, the citizens now have to help instill discipline among the embassies. The interest of citizens is urgently needed.
